Please pray for the families and the children at Southbank International School in London. The school is facing a crisis regarding a former teacher who abused students. This reaches far beyond the school walls, beyond families, this is a story that is horrific to the whole world. Pray for peace, understanding, and God's loving hand to wrap around all of us who are struggling to comprehend.
Lord we lift this situation up to you. We cannot begin to understand this. We lay it at your feet. Please Lord protect the children of the world from evil.
Amen.
EVIDENCE OF THE NEW LIFE IN CHRIST
1 John 2:7-29
The book of First John provides believers with an “assurance of faith”.
Verses 7-11
I love how this section of scripture begins:
“Beloved, brethren, brothers, dear friends,”- this is a loving, endearing opening. Like a letter from a father to a child. He draws us in. It’s like he is truly talking directly to me, to you.
The author is going to talk to us about the most important thing of all: LOVE. How is it the greatest commandment, that it has been there from the beginning, yet there is something new.
Luke 10:27 says "Love the lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind. and love your neighbor as yourself."
Much of Jesus’s ministry was focused on loving others. He said it was the most important commandment. We know that love is the most important thing! Love is not just something it is everything. Love is walking in the light. And this goes right back to to the beginning...to the Old Testament, from Deuteronomy 6:5.... so in a way it’s an old commandment.
But there are two unique aspects to this LOVE in this particular passage.
The first is loving our brothers, meaning the Christian community. We are to LOVE our Christian community. We need to be Jesus to them. All of you are doing this by coming to Bible study, praying for each other, and helping each other. At the time of writing, the author saw Christians imprisoned - and he is calling for them to be brave enough to even risk their lives by bringing food to them, thus revealing their faith and risking imprisonment themselves. So he is calling us to really serve and aid our Christian friends - to the point of risking our lives.
The second thing is that Jesus says "to love others as I have loved you". He raises the bar! see the Gospel of John chapter 15 verse 12. This "enemy-love" is a new kind of love that we have in Christ. And it is reflected in our actions. Love is not just an emotion but is expressed in the way we live our life.
Verses 12-14:
This is set apart - like a poetic passage. There is repetition in this passage, stressing its importance. The author reminds us what we know and who we are in Christ,
giving his reasons for writing, addresses us as little children, fathers, children, dear friends - some say he is referring to stages of spiritual growth here.
I love to personalize this passage - My sins have been forgiven on account of his name
I know him who is from the beginning - I have overcome the evil one - I know the father, I am strong...etc.
Verses 15-17:
Love the Father, not the world.
Do not love the world or anything in the world.
- enjoy the beauties of creation, have joy in our lives, but do not become slaves to the possessions of the world, particularly: cravings of sinful people, lust, boasting…
-once a Christian speaker I heard asked a great question I will never forget: Think of all the things you have - all your possessions and all people, family etc….now is there any of that that could NOT be taken away from you. Anything we can see with our eyes can be taken from us - any possession we have, people...everything in this world will pass away/decay somehow. Only our faith - what is in our hearts and inside of us is what we can cling to.
We cannot allow ourselves to become slaves to possessions.
This is a real counter-culture characteristic of Christians in the Western world where so much emphasis is placed on our possessions/wealth/STUFF.
Verses 18-25
We are easily deceived.
All of you know the truth.
Who is a liar? However denies that Jesus is the Messiah.
Remain in the son and in the father - he promises Eternal Life!!
Staying in The Word is our greatest protection against deception, and we are in doing that by studying our bibles. Cling to the truth in God’s Word, and seek holiness. That will result in growth in Christ.
26-29 Conclusion of Ch 2 1John
Continue to be confident and unashamed in Christ
Be confident - be unashamed!! We are all on a journey. We are all at different points of spiritual maturity. Do not compare yourself to others. We all have different spiritual gifts too. Each of us is growing in God, just like a child who is going through different stages of development - and each of us should be strong and confident, no matter where we are in that process -
if we are doing the things here in Chapter 2, we know we are growing:
--loving our Christian community, seeking truth
--spending time in the word and drawing closer to Christ
--being very careful not to get caught up in the things of the world
--developing discernment - which comes through knowing scripture - against those who may try to deceive you
Final thoughts:
Assurance of salvation in not just repeating a prayer or attending one church service. It should be so much more than that - there should be evidence of new life - that we seek to walk in the light, study his word, acknowledge sin, keep his commands….
Salvation is not a drive through service. It is a long walk of obedience in Christ….to borrow from the title of Eugene Peterson’s wonderful book on discipleship: our walk is a A long obedience in the same direction
For next week: Lesson 4 which will cover 1John chapter 3
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